Ready for “Baby Sisser”

Last week, we had our last doctor’s appointment before Herbie, Jr., arrives.  The doctor didn’t see any signs that she’ll make her arrival before the c-section scheduled for Wednesday.  Although Herbie, Jr., was measuring large at 35 weeks (almost 7.5 pounds) and there was a chance she could make an early arrival (which would be VERY un-Magee-like), she apparently slowed down some of her growth and is estimated to be about 8.5 pounds at her delivery next week!  As a special treat (and somewhat of an underestimation of time on my part), Anne Louise went with us to the doctor’s appointment.  She was on her best behavior!

We’ve been trying to spend some special time with Anne Louise before her world (and ours) changes.  Last Wednesday, we made blueberry pancakes, played hooky from school (mostly because cooking the pancakes took too long), got her FIRST HAIRCUT, had a special Chic-Fil-A lunch (complete with “choc-y milk”), and ate a “girls only” dinner out with Nana, Gogo, and CC.  Anne Louise was the star of the show all day long!  Here are some pictures from the haircut.  Anne Louise did great.  She was mostly excited to sit in “An-Weez’s Jeep” (as opposed to “Daddy’s Jeep”) and also took a turn sitting in the “fire tuck.”

Before (“Bye Bye mullet”)She was so patient while the lady was cutting her hair (but a little squirmy because she loved “me di-ving mama” aka driving).

So “prettily” at the end.Anne Louise’s class just learned about fire trucks at school, so Anne Louise INSISTED on driving one.  She was so cute making the “woo woo woo” sound as she drove it.Friday, we had another hooky day.  We started off getting “cinny rolls” at Great Harvest Bread Company (that place is luscious by the way) and also had “mama coffee” at Starbucks.  After breakfast, we headed to Anne Louise’s triplet friends (not really, but they are twins that live on our street and were born the SAME day as Anne Louise).  Their names are Will and Barrett, but Anne Louise combines them to “We-ill Ba,” and she is obsessed with them.  All morning I heard about “We-ill Ba House.”  We LOVE LOVE LOVE We-ill and Ba’s parents and spent some time over there Friday after Patrick got home from work.  Anne Louise hogged their swing they have out back, and for the rest of the weekend, all we heard about was “We-ill Ba swing Mama.”  Like I said, obsessed.  Here is a picture of the three “triplets.”  (Notice the “hairbow” in AL’s hair.  Barrett was nice enough to share the cute bow she was wearing, which is why Anne Louise sometimes calls her “hairbow Beah-wit”).Saturday morning, Patrick had to work, so Anne Louise helped me make “fench toast.”  She loves “cookin’” and really likes to “look” inside the oven or pan when things are cooking.  She especially likes the eating part and had THREE pieces of french toast.  Luckily, she still has not been introduced to syrup yet, but she did take pride in sprinkling her own powdered sugar over her french toast.  Our little hungry munchie also sat on “Daddy’s wap” (lap) once he got home and helped him eat his breakfast.  Another BIG event Saturday morning was video-chatting (thanks to G-chat) with Uncle Kevin, Aunt Wes-wee, and “Harper Ninny Baby” (check out our beach post for an explanation of that name).  Anne Louise had a great time seeing Harper on the computer and talking to her.  They blew kisses and laughed – so cute!  Thanks KLH (our nickname for Kevin, Leslie, and Harper) for your patience in teaching us how to set that up.  I foresee a LOT of g-chatting in the future!  After lunch, Anne Louise took a nice long nap to rest up for her friend Olivia’s Birthday Party.  Olivia is a friend from school who had a birthday party at a place called Bounce U, where they have all kinds of jumpy things.  Anne Louise had a BLAST playing with Olivia and her other friends from school.  I failed to get any of those pictures, but got a few of AL playing on the slide.

Saturday night, Nana babysat for the FIRST time!  Nana calls it "psuedo-sitting” because Anne Louise was actually in bed (but not asleep) before we left, but Nana helped AL have her milk and read her some books before she went night-night.  Patrick and I had a great time out to dinner with CC, Gogo, and Kris.  We think Nana enjoyed her Nana-duties because she ran down the fully-charged battery on the new monitor just watching and listening to Anne Louise fall asleep.  THANKS NANA for letting us get a night out!

Sunday was church, naptime, and more family time.  Its been a great and relaxing weekend.  Anne Louise is such a precious little girl who seems SO grown up sometimes.  She loves to “hep” (help), knows how to put her things away (when asked), and (generally) does a good time listening to us (ok, that is an exaggeration . . . maybe 50% of the time she does a good job listening, and its not that she doesn’t understand – she definitely does – but she just chooses to ignore us like a typical toddler).  She loves “me do it” or “myself do it.”  We are very proud of her independence (although sometimes its frustrating when you’re trying to get her dressed and out the door and she insists on putting her shirt on like pants).  Anyway, Patrick and I stopped in the middle of getting her dressed after naptime (after she got her own clothes and brought them to us) and said, “Now WHY are we having another baby when we’ve finally got a child grown up enough to understand and communicate?  We laughed.  We are so SO excited about Herbie Jr. getting here, but in all honesty, I think we are nervous about what’s ahead come Wednesday.  According to our limited, block-out-the-bad-times, memory, Anne Louise was a breeze.  We’ve slowly had our “baby amnesia” take breaks here and there, and we remember the all-nighters and cry-fests during those early weeks.  I’m sure the next month or two (or longer) won’t be easy, but just as we look at our precious little Anne Louise and are so proud of her, we know that all the tough stuff at first is well worth it.

Anne Louise is ready for “baby sisser.”  She likes to say, “Shhhh. Baby sweeping,” and she LOVES to hug my stomach and say “I wuv you baby sisser.”  Also, we have FINALLY decided on a name for Herbie Jr (a real name, that is), and AL has been practicing saying it – its ADORABLE.  Anne Louise knows which room is “baby’s woom” and which one is “An-Weez woom.”  The one thing Anne Louise is not ready for is to share her Mama and Daddy.  She STILL has a hard time whenever Patrick or I are holding another little one, so she will have some adjusting to do.  But in the meantime, she likes the fact that “baby sisser” is still inside of mama and is very sweet hugging my belly.  I think Anne Louise would be fine if baby sisser would stay there forever.  Mama, on the otherhand, would not.  So for the next few days, we are going to love on our little Anne Louise and give her special time before her world (and ours) gets a BIG (little itty bitty baby) change on Wednesday.